affections but desires rather they may turne from their perversions and live and to perswade their conversion offers that to them in this life which is promised to us but in heaven namely to have our bodies changed from corruptible and passive into immortall and inpassible for Devotion offers to transfigure our affections from their impure and passive shapes into immuculate and imperishable formes raise them up from infirmity to virtue and make those desires which have beene the image of terestriall figures to beare only that of the celestiall Neverthelesse our minds seeme to be like fond mothers which are lamenting their children given over by the Physitian and will scarce hearken to the consolation of Gods Minister who promiseth so much a better state as a change from weak infants into Angels In this manner our fond and effeminate mindes seeme to bewaile this tranfiguration of their affections which Devotion proposeth according to the Apostle viz. the raising their conversation up to Heaven and changing their vile body so that it may be fashioned like unto the glorious quality of the love of God And certainly unlesse our affections be cut off from the carnall stock of our nature and set by way of ingrafting and incision upon the stem of the holy Vine they doe beare but sowre Grapes such as will set reason's teeth on edge which is their mother since our corrupted nature puts forth many sharp and unripe cupidities and fancies which are truly rather corrasive then cordiall to the minde God hath planted affections in our sensitive nature not with a purpose that they should be fixed in the earth and bear only terrene cupidities but hath rather set them there for a while only as in a seminary or nursery where he doth not meane they should take any deepe root for our reason as soon as it is able is ordained to remove and transplant our affections into spirituall scituations into that garden for which they were first planted so that although our loves grow at first while they are little tender slips only in the terrestriall part of our nature they are designed to be removed in their due season into the celestiall portion and to beare fruites spirituall and intellectuall which order is intimated by the Apostle when he saith as the first man is of earth earthly so the latter must be of heaven heavenly But because in this warfare of our lives upon earth between these two parties the sensitive and the rationall our sensitive nature is not easily perswaded to render up her affections wherein she accounts her selfe so strong unto right reason upon discretion let us examine what faire conditions grace which alwayes taketh Reason's part offereth her and indeed if the offers be well judged of there will appeare a truer freedome gained by this surrender then that which the loosenesse of our nature would maintaine when our affections being made free from sinne are become the servants of righteousnesse for if we examine the impositions and constraints our passions lay upon us it is easie to convince that to he a reall servitude which we doe familiarly but in wantonesse tearme so and thus our loose passions like the Jewes to whom our Saviour proposed freedome by the knowledge of truth will hardly confesse their inthralment but I may fitly say to them as he did while you commit sinne you are the servants of sinne If grace by Devotion set you free you shall be free indeed Therefore I will procure to manifest how grace may give nature great conditions of freedome and how the best proprieties of our affections are rather improved and secured then alienated and spoiled by this surrender to Reason and Devotion And to treate first of the interests of love which seemes to be the commander of all the strength of our passions when love renders it selfe to Devotion then is it so farre from being restrain'd as it is continued in the command of all the power of our pieties and is trusted so much as it is allowed to hold faire correspondence with beauty though that were the party love had served under against grace for then our love commerceth with the creatures only to improve his owne estate and faculty of loving which is all assigned to the honour of the creatour And surely when love by a rectified perswasion of the blessings of the creature brings beauty into the service of Devotion by a right admiration of the workes of the creatour such objects may forcibly concurre to excite us to the love of the maker in honouring of whom consists all Devotion Beauty may be truly honoured by the rights of her nature without being flattered by that meanes to be solicited against her maker for she may be confessed one of the best of all mixed creations since pure spirituall substances when they will put on a materiall vaile take beauty for their vestment The Angels expose themselves to us alwayes in the forme of beauty because that is the readiest note our sense acknowledges of Divinity and when the Son of God vouchsafed to be clothed with materiality the holy Spirit that made him this Garment exposes it and recommends it to us in this forme of being beautifull above the sonnes of men and he drawes the image of the spouse he came to take in the figure of perfect beauty as the best sensible Character can be made of her and makes this quality the object of Christs love As she is all faire and no spot to be found in her and thus as beauty is chosen for a simbol of spirituall purity the allegory of it as I may say not the letter is to be studyed by us since that attention will reflect to us the fairenesse and integrity we ought to preserve in our soules and so possesse us against that perverted sense which is often drawne out of the out-side or letter of materiall beauty In the Book of Gods Workes Saint Paul tells us the Divinity of the Author is legible by some little study of the Character and certainly there is no so faire part of this edition as that of beauty but we doe most commonly like children to whom books are given in fine prints and graced with gay flourished letters and figures they turne them over and play with them and never learne the wordes thus likely doe our childish mindes that are kept at play by our senses looke wantonly over the specious figures of beauty and seldome study them to learne Gods meaning in them which if they did seriously inquire they might learne that the excellence and perfection of their true meaning renders the perversion the more reproachable for as crimes are the greater the neerer they come to the violation of the person of the Prince so if beauty be the neerest sensible image of the soveraigne of nature the betraying it to his professed enemy must needs be the most capitall offence how this infidelity is committed is but too much
the earth is thine In this verity he rejoyced extracted out of all his transitory felicity And King Ezekias having his treasury and cabinets filled with all pretious stores might have rejoyced in the truth of those blessings without deriving from them vanity and presumption as much as he boasted of them to the Babylonians so much untruth he found in that felicity whereof he seemed to have forgot the changeable property and was quickly instructed by the Prophet in the insecurity of such goods whereby he discerned how he had rejoyced in the untruth of his temporal happines out of which he might have extracted matter of a true and sincere rejoycing for Gods Spirit attesteth to us that he doth not cast away the mighty whereas he himself is mighty All the attainders lying upon great and rich men in the Scripture are brought against such as rejoyce in the errours and deceits of temporall goods such as either sacrifice all their wealth to the Idols of their fancy or such as make an Idol of their wealth and offer up all their thoughts unto it The voluptuous or the avaritious are those that fall under the sentence of the Gospell and their crime is not what they possesse but what possesseth them when they doe not rejoyce in the truth of their goods but delight themselves in contriving errours and fallacies out of them and as the Apostle sayes Change the Truth of God into a lie So that the defectivenesse of their happinesse ariseth out of their degression from Truth and whence doth all the blessednesse which Christian faith annexeth to sufferance issue but from this spring of verity which streameth out that joy and exultation is proposed to us in the afflictions of this life How come the thorns of sufferance to beare grapes the wine whereof rejoyceth the heart while our senses are prickedct wounded with this spinous or thorny matter Surely this cordiall is made of the Spirit of Truth which may be extracted out of all the asperities of this life first by considering the true state of Humane Nature designed to sufferings not only by sentence but by Grace in order to the aversing us from the love of this world next by contemplating the truth of those glorious promises which are made to a virtuous correspondency with Gods Order in his disposure of his creature so that both the materiall goods and evills of this life afford no legitimate joy but what the mind beareth when she is teeming with Truth we may therefore resolve with King David that when Truth doth spring out of the earth righteousnesse shall looke downe from Heaven §. III. The fallacies of some Objections solved and rejoycing in Truth concluded for our reall Happinesse BUt now me thinkes having determined the happinesse of this life in the loving and rejoycing in Truth many that thinke themselves unhappy wonder at this conclusion and conceive me disproved by their defeatures perswading themselves to have beene alwayes suitors and lovers of Truth when the Truth is that they doe not first seeke verity for the object of their love but conclude they have found it in what they have placed their love Supposing their opinions of such joyes as they pursue to be sincere and solid truthes insomuch as I may well resolve such sonnes of men that They love vanity and seek after lies In that region of the world which I have travelled the most I may reflect to the inhabitaints of it one raigning error which may convince many of insincerity in their addresses to Truth for the ground of their happinesse this it is the trusting the infidelity of fortune to others for our owne felicity designing our stock out of the spoiles of our fellowes and in this course doe we not fixe the hopes of our happinesse upon what can never passe to us but by such an infidelity as must assure us we are in continual danger of a like dispossession this must needs be our case when the expectance of the unfaithfulnesse of fortune is made the assignment of our prosperity And yet we see how Courts are commonly divided into these two partyes of some that are Sacrificing to their owne nets and others that are fishing for such nets the first is the state of such as are valuing themselves for what they have taken the second of those who are working and casting out how to catch what the others have drawne and in this manner there are many who pretend to be lovers of Truth that make these fallacies the very ground of that web of happinesse they have in hand This is so preposterous a course for ingenious spirits in order to true felicity as surely there is much of a curse in this method and God warranteth my beliefe both by the Prophets and Apostles when speaking by the voyce of Esay to this case he saith They have chosen their owne wayes wherefore I also will chuse their delusions and by Saint Paul the holy Spirit saith Because they received not the love of Truth for this cause God sends them strong delusions that they should beleeve a lie Let the worlds darlings examine what they confide in for the security of their joyes and they will finde it is the Father of lies they trust for the truth of their felicity who being not able to diminsh the increated verity sets all his art to deface all created Truthes which worke in this region of the world I now treat of he designeth by such a course as he used with the Person of Truth it selfe when he was upon earth for he carryeth up our imagination to the highest point of esteeme he can raise it of earthly possessions from whence he exposeth to our fancies the glories and beauties of this world in deceitfull apparencies as if they were permanent and secured fruitions and our wills are commonly perswaded to bowe downe and reverence such false suggestions whereof the infidelity augmenteth by the degrees of our Devotion in that beliefe since the more we confide in their stability the more falshood doe we admit for our happinesse and thus are we abused in the possession of Truth while we affect all our delights under that notion by the subtilty of the great enemy of Truth we are as Saint Augustine saith elegantly brought to hate Truth by loving those things which we love only as we imagine them to be true for the impermanency of this worlds goods is odious to us which is the truth of their nature and we affect in them their assurance as a truth without which we would not love them and yet that opinion is a meere delusion This may satisfie many who account themselves unhappy by the mutations of fortune and the dispossessions of their secular commodities for they shall finde themselves unfortunate but in the same measure they misapprehended the true nature of such fruitions by as much as they over-loved them so much are they distressed by their losses so the
which our mindes are truly imprisoned while they are dallying with these similitudes of Prisons and Chains to inlarge the liberties of their Fancy when they come to understand and affect rightly the freedom of their mindes may judge this severing from such temptations and fascinating vanities to be a state of real infranchisement and esteem the other giddy agitation of their persons up and down the world floating upon their Fancies but as a Prisoners Dream wherein he may imagine himself Master of his own Keepers while he is faster in hold then when he is awake and truly apprehending his condition They whose mindes then are guilty of these kindes of crimes of making away their time and using their former liberties as instruments in this mischief let them Arraign their Imaginations upon this Indictment of their Memories for by judging and casting themselves they may make a new life out of this suffering and execution of their faulty liberties which if their Prison put to death in their affections as it doth extinguish in their practices they will conclude themselves rather resuscitated then restrained How happy may they be accounted who come to redeem time ever by the evilness of their days to whose civil death and moral resurrection this of the Apostle may be applyed What was sown in corruption is raised in incorruption and what was sown in infirmity is raised in power This being admitted let those who lie under this sentence of Sequestration from the world in stead of setting thâ—â—â— hearts upon the Suit of their Habeas corpus apply them to 〈◊〉 out as I may say their Habeas 〈…〉 tem in which Plea they are sure they have to deal with so indulgent a Judge as he taketh their own Will for Security to free their Minde upon it the which being at liberty will be well pleased with the Commitment of their bodies upon the Action of their Time against them when they conceive that this Arrest was the easiest way for them to acquit that Debt by the discharge whereof they can onely recover their forfeited Estate of real Liberty And when their mindes look upon the lovely Image of redeemed and improved time figured upon the walls of their inclosures by falling in love with time they may disprove the Proverb and make a lovely Prison while that becometh a possession of their love and are not their affections happily placed when time contributeth to the beauty of the object This Spiritual inamourment hath all these preheminences and the indearments of such loves are made by the professions of liberty and infranchisement how much a nobler engagement then is this of our mindes above that of such loves which have all direct contrary qualifications Such therefore as address their thoughts to this suit and research shall by degrees finde their familiarity with this love introduce them into the acquaintance of that truth which unvaileth the various miseries of all conditions in this life by the light of Contemplation wherein this promise of the Prophet is verified Then shall thy light rise in obscurity and thy darkness be as the mâ—n day for by this clarity we may discern the whole world in several chains and mancipations and those the most inflaved who are sweating in the world as in a forge to hammer out their own Man 〈…〉 which they make even while they are laying bolts and irons upon others that are cast under them but as it were by the rowling of the Ship on the one side for another contrary wave coming turns them back again beneath those they lay upon and then all the irons they had put on them prove their own surcharge The speculation of these truths may keep the Spirits of Sufferers in more steddiness then is compatible with that estuation of minde which is inseparable from insolent prosperity These calm Meditations suggested by the Spirit of Truth may bring Prisoners into that state which is promised to the clients and followers of these Verities You shall know Truth and Truth shall set you free These Advices in order to the valuation of Time as they do primarily respect eternity so incidentally they refer to the reconciling us unto the great acerbities of the moments of this life where unto I conceive this adjunction also of some Counsel in point of Improvement of Time in relation to the acquiring of Humane knowledge may be a very useful ministry and suppeditation §. V. A method proposed in point of Study and the Vse may be derived from Story towards a right understanding of Divine Providence I Do not pretend to design to any their Studies and Recreations in Lecture every several Vocation will â—â—sily fit it self with inst 〈…〉 pertinent to their Profession I shall advise onely a general method in order to their thriving best in this Spiritual Pasture As I have proposed partitions of our hours into several Applications so should I counsel aâ— every such Section between the change of Books the making some convenient pause of Mediâ—aâ—ion upon the matter of our last attention For when we reade cursorily we do but smell and scent the flowers as they grow but this rumination of the notions is a gathering and collection of them and a kinde of carrying them away in Nosegays and holding to our mindes the sums and digestâ— of their substance by which means their odour lasts the longer and leaveth our memory always the more perfumed so that when our reflections resort thither to smell again the same odours they may finde some of their ayr remaining in that conserve And those who intend to lay in any store of Knowledge to distribute and dispense it upon premeditation must not onely gather these flowers and entertain their breaths the longer by these recogitations but must set themselves to work upon them and as I may say distil their essences through their Pens and thus extract the Spirits of them making them up in these vessels of Note-Books distinguished by common places which are as 〈◊〉 were so many several viols marked with their peculiar properties and sorted respectively to their uses and are kept in this Cabinet of our Note-Book ready by us to draw out again either through our pen or to distribute in our conversation or any other function of our profession For when we have thus extracted these Spirits out of the Books we have wrought upon it is a Spiritual treasure lying by us which we may relie upon as a stock for all our necessities either for private and interior provision oâ— publike and forein communication This way of distillation or confection of our studies preserving them for lasting uses is even without any 〈…〉 ference to their participation unto others the best 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the perfuming and sweetning our time to our selves in 〈◊〉 unpleasant ayr of Solitude for this work breatheth an 〈…〉 into our Fancy all the day long which by filling it keepeth out the fumes of our natures disease and impresseth the more strongly on
all Times to study And surely all such Images of Gods so remarkable Meâ—cy and Indulgence ought to endeavor the resembling in some proportion these two great Paterns in this special similitude of immediately not condescending to flesh and blood and of laboring more then others this was S. Pauls method and S. Augustines maner of copying him and surely God may justly require a singular rectitude in the courses of such as he hath raised from then falls by his special hand of Compassion and this not onely upon the account of their own debt but also in order to the benefiting their Brothers since we know the people came more to see Luzarâ—s risen then Iesâ—s who had revived him Certainly all great Spiritual resuscitations are more attended and reflected on then such as seem Natural lives of Piety and some special demonstration of gratitude is so much conditioned in Gods notorious Pardons as even the looser part of the world expecteth some extraordinary recognition from them and their uncorrespondency to that measure of Edification which is looked for by unreformed observers doth discredit to the world those invitations to amendment which are commonly made by the first perswasive fervors of zealous Converts For one patern of relapse and retrogradation substracteth so much from the efficacy of such Examples as that defection is apt to render many sincere progressions in the first fervor suspected of unsoundness and recidency And by this suspition of unperseverance there may well be blasted much of the fruit of extraordinary Conversions for Libertines with a little tincture of Truth in such recesses from zeal will colour a great deal of witty impiety So that this scandalous remisness seemeth to give a fair pass for Prophaneness to make reprisal upon Devotion which doth take from Libertines so many affected freedoms so great a detriment doth a little Scandal procure to Religion in such as have the seal of Extraordinary Pardons upon them evidenced to the Eye of the world And on the other side when such remarkable vocations continue so exemplary as they answer all equal and just expectations and obstruct all licentious tongues the benefit they impart unto the world is likely more then the native piety of many unseduced persons Me thinks the prevision of this utility may be given for a handsom reason of the rejoycing of Angels in one Conversion more then in the persistency of many vertuous tempers for Humane Nature which the Angels are better acquainted with then we as being incharged with the conducting it to Spiritual improvements is well charactered in the stiffness and indocility of the Pharisees since it is apt to be demanding a Sign from Heaven for Reformation of corrupted Customs and desperate Spiritual recoveries seem so many openings of the Heavens in the descent of the Holy Dove visibly to the standers by wherefore the Angels upon their precognition of the extraordinary efficacy of such Conversions may well be speculated to ground this exceeding joy and exultation Not that we intend hereupon to conclude That such Prodigals have greater portions of Grace then those elder Brothers who may justly say We have served so many years and have not transgressed the commandments We do confess where the special preventing Grace of God bestoweth an exemption from the stains and inquinations of youth when one may truly say I have observed all these precepts from my youth that such a condition is preferable to this recanting state of I have sinned against heaven the having been always so clothed as our turpitude hath not been discovered is a better posture then the casting off our rags to put on the first robe so that I purpose chiefly to incite these yonger brothers to an eminent humiliation not to elate them in the preference of their conditions before other states of innocency that have never been tainted by the contagious air of the world and have remained as the virgin Apostle saith The first fruits among men to God and the Lamb without spot before the throne of God Surely all notorious cures of such as have faln into the thiefs hands between Iericho and Ierusalem are never so perfect as when the Scars or Cicatrices remain in the eyes of the Patients rather as marks of their misery then pledges of their continuing health and so their lives which are set out to others by God as Ensigns of victory must be looked upon by themselves as wrecks saved and set up in their own thoughts for memorials of the danger whereunto they are still exposed for God doth often set up in publike such figures of humane misery and divine mercy not only in commiseration of the particular subjects but in condescendence to the bent of our common nature which runneth after example and seemeth but dragg'd after single precepts Wherefore all remarkable Converts should account themselves as sent from the dead upon the suit of their necessitous brothers in Gods compassion to them as well as to themselves the world being much better disposed to hear such messengers then Moses and the Prophets and in this respect they should study to live exactly by this rule of St. Paul Yield your selves unto God as those that are alive from the dead And surely this expropriation of themselves and transaction over to the uses of others which the Apostle denounceth to all Christians is more especially relating to them then to any others for they may be most pertinently served with this holy writ You are not your own being bought with a great price therefore glorifie God and carry him in your body so that those who as our Savior saith have heard his voice and are come out of their graves and live must remember as they have a kinde of fraternity with Lazarus in this spiritual resuscitation that they strive to live as brothers of the Blessed Magdalen and that after their first alliance in this point of having had much forgiven they be very studious to fraternise with her in this other part of loving much By this exhibiting the obligations of a true Convert I have recorded my own bonds I may hope that God by his infinite liberality will be pleased to inable the rest of my life for some competent discharge of this great ingagement For me thinks I hear the voice of our Savior to him he had dispossessed of a legion of evil spirits Go home to thy friends and tell them how great things God hath done for thee I am therefore come back thus ad domum Caesaris to the house of Cesar which in reference to many of my Duties I may presume to call my home but most particularly in order to my discharge of this Commission of announcing quanta mihi fecerit dominus how great things God hath done for me wherefore I do not owe this Manifest onely as an office of Recognition unto God but do stand me thinks charged with it as a condition of my Absolution by which I conceive
nature and over-pay by good security of sincere secular joy what may seeme taken away in that adulterate species wherein our fancies use to accept the receites of our contentment For surely Devotion doth assigne the minde a rectified joy in the use of temporall goods instead of that vitious and counterfeit which our three enemies pretending to be our stewards bring into our fancy that is prone to take all whatsoever hath but the image of sensible pleasure without examining the substance which facility to be deceived the Prophet reproacheth in us saying We sell our selves for nothing Should a traveller passing through a forreign countrey finding the coyne of the place raised to an excessive value exchange into it all the good species of his own thinking to make gain by this traffique because the coyne is currant in his passage as soon as he were passed that dominion he would quickly repent his inconsiderate mistake This seemeth to be the familiar case of man who while he is in his transition and passage through this world findeth the temporalities thereof which are the currant species of the place cried up to such an over-value as he is perswaded to turne all his affections into that species of joy and at its issue out of this forreign region he findeth the irreparable losse he hath made by the debatement of his talents in this exchange And it is against this delusion not against all commerce with secular joy in our journey that Devotion issueth to us her inhibitions lest by this ill husbandry in their way when they come to account with their great Creditor they be reduced to give a worse answer then he who brought back his talent unimproved I shall therefore exhibite to our minds which must needs negotiate in their passage through this world the true Intrinsique value of those joyes uttered in the commerce with the creatures that taking none but such as are allowed in their last audict their traffique may bring home into their native countrey not their Bonds forfeited but rather Bils of exchange payable upon their Masters joy In answer then of the desire of having the truest happynesse of this life specially determined I declare that the felicity of this life consisteth in a constant rejoycing in truth This is the assertion of Saint Augustine and is easily verified to all rationall dispositions The first reply the world is like to make to this proposition is Pilates question What is truth to which I answer Truth is a perfect and edequate similitude or likenesse imprinted in our understanding of the nature of the thing we conceive So that when our conception is just equall to the being and property of the thing we conceive we are said to understand truth Wherefore the truth of knowing is as it were the mould cast off from the truth of being or the print of that seal and so the image of the true being of a thing is the figure of truth seated in our minds But this which may seem a fair impression of the nature of truth may perchance appear but a dark Character of the form of happynesse to my auditory unto whom indeed I do not intend to assigne onely the speculative notions of verities for the subject of their satisfactions but I will open farther this store of joy the rejoycing in truth and shew how it containeth the Prophets wine and milk which he offereth to all for fetching it From hence the contemplative life draweth that wine whereof King David saith My chalice inebriating how goodly is it and the active sucketh that milk which the Apostle saith is proper for their vocation which nourisheth their minds with more sensible delectation issuing from the true use and ordinate love of the creature And this is that I may not unpleasantly call the milk which these Gentiles love best to whom I present my breast The preference of the contemplative life before the active is inferred from this respect of affording a more clear and serene light for the perception of Supernatural verityes For contemplation is a fixure of the mind on the aspect and presents of truth and although this act of contemplating be purely Intellectuall yet the terme and end thereof rests in the affections as the possession of our pursuits induceth joy whereby this is demonstrated that the happynesse of the contemplative life consisteth in the rejoycing in truth This sensible delight in contemplation flowing from the Superior portion of the mind down upon the Inferior is a good Image of mans consummate Beatitude in Heaven where the glory of the body is derived from the excesse and redundancy of the joy and blessednesse flowing from the soul and in this order the delight imparted to our affections by contemplation fals from a superfluence of truth in our understanding And thus what may be said to be light in the Superior region of the Soul seemeth fire in the lower The first reporting to truth and the latter to joy which as it is a passion in our nature may be said to be more materiall then the other in the same degree as flame is lesse pure then the radiancy of the Sunne but the comparative degrees of purity between the acts of our Intellect and our affections are not our Theam Certaine it is that all the sensible delectation of the contemplative life streameth from the springs of Supernatural verities we will therefore stay no longer on the top of Mount Sinai which may seem all cloud to those that are below while the Moseses that are upon it find all splendor and clarity and may not unfitly be said to see the hinder parts of that verity in seeing the face whereof consists the consummate rejoycing Comming then down into the Camp of the active life it will be no hard task to prove the happinesse of that state likewise seated in the rejoycing in truth which hath so gratefull a savour even to our sensitive appetite as I may say none wish for quailes but they desire to tast this Manna in them I mean no body affecteth any sensible fruition but as it is under the form of a true good For as Saint Augustine reasoneth let any be asked whether he had rather joy in truth or in falsity and the answer will bear no doubt For although there be many would deceive others in their happinesse there are none would be deceived themselves in it there is such a signature of the light of the countenance of verity stamped upon the reason of man as his understanding can propose nothing to his affections as matter of joy but under the colour at least of truth So that the object of all our affections is true delight though the errour be never so great in the subject of our joy For no body can rejoyce under this notion of being deceived the instinct of man is such in order to truth as he must present that object to his Imagination even out of the
defect will still result out of the distance of our joy from this principle of rightly possessing and rejoycing in Truth for all our reall unhappinesse riseth by the same degrees that Verities are diminished from among the Children of men There is one familiar scruple raised against our perswading the active life to this constant intendment of Truth which is that this fixure of the minde upon verity rather then leaving it a little loose to opinion taketh off the point and edge of our spirit in the activenesse and commerces of this life Whereunto I answer that spirits wher and sharpned upon the errours of imagination are subject to turne their edge upon the least encounter of disappointment when mindes temper'd by the consideration of truth and thereby set and whetted for action keep their edge cutting against the haire as I may say not blunted or rebated in any adverse occurrencies nor doth this breast of Verity as some suppose nourish only the minde and pine the senses but feedeth them also with healthfull and convenie 〈…〉 pleasure and teacheth the soule how to keepe the senses in their true degree of servants managing their trusts only upon account which the minde taketh so exactly of them in all the commerce of their delights as they can never runne out much in prejudice of her estate and in this order the rationall part doth the office of the good steward in the Gospell Feeding the family with their portions in due season And surely this orderly oeconomy in the managing of all worldly goods Reason presiding and the senses entertained with competent satisfaction is the best state of happinesse this active life can admit So is it the knowledge and love of Truth seated in our understanding and our affections which can only consort this harmony of a constant rejoycing And doubtlesse while our fancies doe but counterfeit that truth they expose to our affections we can no more justly complaine of the insufficiency of that object in point of affordingus felicity then of a painted fires not warming us be it neverso wel drawn For commonly they are but designs of our imaginations coloured over with vaine apparencies of Truth which they exhibite to our affections for the true substances of our happinesse wherefore I may me thinkes fittly illustrate this familiar errour of the world by this story of Zeuxis the famous Painter who having made the figure of a boy with a cluster of grapes in his hand being told the birds sate upon the boyes hand to peck at the grapes answered this was no true praise of his art because it was a signe he had painted the grapes better then the man otherwise the birds would have been afraid of that figure In like maner may I say that these imaginations which figure such a truth of happinesse in sensible delectations as their affections take them for the reall and sincere felicity of this life are not to be commended for this vivacity for it is a signe they represent more lively to our reason the fruits of this world which the man hath in his hand then they doe the nature of our humanity the constitution whereof if it were truely imaged and figured to our understanding would fright our affections from setting themselves upon the fruit of temporalities by considering the state of man which inadvertency is now familiar by this partiality of our fancy in figuring the grapes more to the life then the hand that holds them if the images which Truth it selfe hath drawn of the condition of man in this life were well impressed in our imagination of being but a blast a vapour or a shaddow this would undoubtedly divert our mindes from taking never so well coloured images of riches honour beauty or dominion for the true substances of humant felicity If there be any then that wonder they are not happy pretending they have alwayes held Zerubbabels party preferring truth before all competitors of empire beauty and pleasure if they are in any great deâ—ection of spirit let them take this course to undeceive themselves in this their supposed rectitude of intention which if it had beene sincere could not have let their mindes sinke into any deepe depression let them I say examine first whether they have rightly apprehended the state of our humane Nature and the condition of all temporall fruitions and then whether they have squared their loves to such delights by the measure of a rectified apprehension of both their nature and their own for the same disproportions there are betweene our affections and the true property of those things we love the same deficiencies must be consequent in our happinesse and upon this reflection Truth may tell most of the world This people honoureth me with their lips but their hearts are farre from me and as the increated Truth told the Pharisees who pretended to have great interest in God the Father that if what they alledged had beene true They would have acknowledged him also because he proceeded from the Father So in the name of the created Truth which is to be found in all Gods Workes I may say to many such pretenders if they had truly loved the Originall Verity they would have beene possessed of the true nature and use of the creature which notion issueth and proceeds out of an application to the first Verity Having shewed how the beames of Truth enlighten both hemispheres of the contemplative and active life and infuse into each of them their respective happinesse I may conclude with the Wisemans confession upon his loving of Truth above health or beauty that hers is the only light because it is inextinguishable and that all other goods come together with her and Devotion may lawfully use the words of her great master and assure her followers If you continue in my word then are you truly my disciples and you shall know the Truth and the Truth shall make you free The eighth Treatise Touching the meanes of possessing that Truth wherein the happinesse of this life is stated In two sections §. I. Diffidence in point of obtaining Spirituall lights reprehended and prayer proposed in order to this designe NOW me thinks I am called upon as one that hath advised a traveller not to lose his way to give some nearer directions for the finding it as a further contribution towards the securing his journeyes end then a simple caution against the danger of deviation For as Solomon telleth us The lame man in the way maketh more hast then a Courser out of it And by reason there may be many different humours that may ask this question of Saint Thomas How can we know the way to this so excellent possession of truth I may well premise this consideration before my answer that there was a wide difference between Pilat's Interrogatory concerning truth when he asked our Saviour What is truth and Saint Thomas his question about finding the way to it saying How can
of others §. III. The vitiousnesse of Flattery displayed with an allowance of decent civilities in exchanges of Courtship HAving proposed to Courtiers for their chiefe security solid Humility discerned from superficiall civility I must desire them to be very sincere in the examination of this vertue for humanity and courtesie externall do often so well counterfeit the stamp of it as it had need be touched at some occasion of suffering to find the falsity of the metall and for the greater safety of this vertue it were to be desired we could banish and eliminate out of the verge one of the best Waiters at Court though of the worst servants in it namely Flattery which is alwayes an enemy to Humility though it seeme often neare allyed unto it by submissive appearances For we know the first progenitor of Pride was also the primary father of Lyes from which all Flattery descends in a collaterall Line Hence it is that there is alwayes some of the bloud of Pride in all adulation though it go cloathed in never so servile an habit of submission And that we may see how naturally Flattery issueth out of Pride wee may consider into what a base and inferiour posture Lucifer contrived himselfe when he cast the first seeds of Flattery into our earth did he not lye prostrate at those feet he was undermining while he was flattering them with their capacity of treading on him and becomming like Gods And this seeming subjection was it not designed by the sublimest part of his Pride which meant to captivate and subject the minds he wrought upon in this posture In like manner all the servile formes of complacency and deference to others which Flattery casts it selfe into in the magnifying their worth and excellency hath this serpentine insinuation in it to wit the hoping to infuse the easilyer the Flatterers sense into them which project in the complyers must needs rise from a beliefe of their own minds being so superior to those they are applyed to worke upon as they can impose upon them the beliefe of all their suggestions and so subdue their spirits which thought is the very soule of Pride to conclude our minds to have such a transcendency over others for no body flatters another but in beliefe of being credited So that all Flattery being anatomized will be found to live by the heart of Pride which is indeed the first living part of Sicophantry in what body soever of humble verisimilitudes it seemes to move And upon this ground we may say that a meane Parasite is a prouder thing then the most magnifyed Prince he humoureth in as much as the presumption on the excellence of mind as it is more spirituall is nearer the originall of Pride And as it was excellently said of a wise King That witchcraft is the height of Idolatry because though it exhibits no exterior offices of Worship but rather disclaimes them yet is it the highest mentall veneration of the seducing spirit and so the truest idolatry In like manner it may be said that Flattery is the supremacy of Pride because though there be no externall profession of selfe-love in it but rather of an alienation from it yet it is a continuall exercise of the supreamest arrogancy which is the Flatterers valuation of his own abilities Whereupon it seemes that a Philosopher being asked what was the most noxious beast to humane nature answered of wild beasts a Tyrant and of tame ones a Parasite and we may adde that the tame ones seeme the worst of the two for the wild ones take the greatest part of their ferocity by coupling with them since this commixion is the generation of all tyrannie wild power enjoying servile praise Humane nature could not fall in love with the exorbitancy of wickednesse if she saw it naked and beheld the bare deformity of that object therefore to make this conjunction there must intercede the art of flattery to colour the basenes and inhumanity of outrageous mischiefe with some faire varnish of decency as either with the right of greatnesse or the liberties of nature or many other such shadowes by which Sycophants keepe Tyrants minds the fiercer by holding them in this darkenes chained up by the magnifying and applause of their appetencies so that this may be truly said in the tearmes of the Psalmist to be the pestilence that walketh in the darke which the light of truth would easily asswage somewhat even in the greatest rage of corrupted nature We may therefore fitly say that Flattery is the oyle of the sinner wherewith Tyrants are annointed by these Ministers of their passions and we know King David saith this should not be the unction falling on the head of Princes For this reason we cannot too strongly brand the forehead of these Court Charlatans since there is so much known art to take out the markes of the character of a Parasite and to continue still in the practise of this mystery of iniquity I confesse therefore it is hardly to be hoped that this sentence of expulsion of Flattery out of Courts can be strictly executed for when it is pressed and straitned by these reproaches then like the Poets Proteus it varyes shapes and appeares presently covered with another forme either in that of duty to superiors or civility to equals or due commendation of merit and will never answer to this indictment of Flattery And indeed these formes which she shifts herselfe easily into are the legitimate issues of morality by which all the fit alliances are made in civill society the two first bearing order and distinction beween Persons and the last producing fertility in vertue Wherefore we cannot impeach this commerce of customary civility and complements for there is a discipline belonging to the practicall part of morality which is referred to the discretion of the Ministers of it which Courtiers may be most properly termed and the rites and ceremonies of mutuall civilities are ornaments requisite to raise respect and sorme order in all the exercises of morality therefore as it is not possible to set and regulate in such sort those voluntary descants of complement as to put them into such measured notes as they must precisely runne in to keepe them from straying into Flattery I will only set Courtiers this lesson of the Apostle which may keepe some time and measure in the consort of their vocall civilities You are called unto liberty only use not this liberty for an occasion to the flesh but by love to serve one another and by this order those finer threads of Court civilities may make as strong a band of charity as rough and grosser materials §. IIII. The use of sober prayses treated and reciprocall civilities regulated I Do not in this sharpe insectation of sordid Flattery mean to asperse the good name of praises and commendations for I must allow them to be convenient brests to nurse young and tender dispositions to vertue and the good inclinations
of Princes and great persons may like their other issues be allowed more tender and dainty breeding then ordinary and yet be nourished with sincere and healthfull aliments for applause and estimation of all their young vertuous actions and proffers may be so tempered as they may conduce to the thriving and growth of their minds without any swelling or elation Methinks praise may in some cases be fitly applyed to our minds as Corall is to the mouthes of children when they are breeding teeth which is given them to nibble and champ upon to ease and satisfy that little itch they have in their gums in that season and to supple them so much as to bring their teeth out with the more ease In this order praise may be aptly given to young tender inclinations to vertue for there is in our minds in that state a spirituall itch which is eased and refreshed while they are champing and sucking upon applause which doth also soften and open our imagination and so lessen the pain of our perverse and froward nature when the hardnes and sharpenes of vertuous practises which are spirituall teeth do first breake the flesh which is alwaies done with some smart when the tendernes of our senses is pierced and broken through first by the sharpnes of the spirit of vertue by degrees when our minds have thus put out these kinds of teeth more commodiously by these cherishing contributions which help at first our weake nature they advance to such a state of strength as to be able to feed on the solid meat of vertue which is the discharge of our duty to God and man irrespectively to humane praise and by these steps we come to be wean'd from the emulsions of sensible applause which is the first milke our imaginations are fostered with and gives them a sweet relish of vertue Since then we find by experience how praise and estimation conduce much to the sweetning of the asperity of vertue in young tasts I do not discredit the ministring of sober and modest praises to the good dispositions of great and eminent persons whose minds are too commonly at Court in this tender state of growth and prosiciency and I confesse it is not practicable to frame rules for the discernment between due praises and flatteries in all occurrences in the worlds commerces Wherefore the ingenuity of every particular must be every ones director in this point but the best generall advice I can conceive is for those who are passive in commendations to weigh the worthinesse of the hand that layes them on in one of the Scales against the beliefe they put into the other of their own deserts and still to put in somewhat lesse credit of their own praises then the opinion of the praiser layes in the scale and those who are active in this subject when they praise any they love◠and would perfume them with the good odour of vertue must remember to give them lesse of this sweet oyle then their own opinion and beliefs would cast upon them which is to say that when we are praising our friends to their face we should be carefull to praise them alwayes somewhat lesse then we love them for likely that measure of our affections filled with praises will runne over if it be poured into that of our friends merit and when we are upon the receipt of commendations from kind conferrers of them we must be advised in taking somewhat lesse of them upon the account of our beliefe then is offered us for we may give alwayes a good allowance of discrediting for the partiality of friendship which cannot be exact in the weighing of her opinions The Chimicks say that he who had found the art to fix Mercury might easily transforme it into gold so may I say If there were meanes to limit this volatil matter of complement and fluency of praises within the termes of that precise good which is beleeved of one another this might convert all currant civility into the gold of charity and then the breath of reciprocall praises might mutually kindle vertue raysing but little smoake of vanity But this rectitude of our lips is not to be hoped in this our state of crookednesse of hearts for our words are cast off from their moulds and since it was flattery that drew the mouth awry of that figure whereof we are all copies our mouthes wil alwayes stand somewhat drawne aside from the straitnes of truth towards the side of flattery especially when we find the eares of great persons drawn awry into that posture Forasmuch then as we cannot pretend to rectify perfectly this shape of our distorted nature we must be cautious to leane as little as we can to that side of our inclination to flattery King David found this deflection indirectnes in our minds when he proclaimed that verities are diminished from the sonnes of men they speake vanity every one with his neighbour with flattering lips and a double heart since through our best watches over our lips there will escape many excesses in the enterchanges of civilities it is very requisite for the safety of their hearts that Courtiers should not let their tongues runne loose in the ordinary excursions of complements thinking such words weigh as little as the breath that carries them for we know that even all those nulls and ciphers in our reckoning are set upon account to us I wil therefore close up this caution with that terrible animadversion of the Gospell By thy words thou shalt be justifyed and by thy words condemned which words if they would frequently put into their mouthes they would find them a bit which will not at all presse upon their tongues so farre as to curbe them from any becomming freedome but hold them as it were from being cast out of their mouthes in many undecent motions of loose libertyes wherein the unbridled custome of the world doth never curbe them §. V. The advantages of the vocation of a Courtier ballanced with some prejudices in point of piety THus have I with my best skill set the Courtiers Compasse by which he may steere a good course through the deepest of his temptations and the Wise man seems to qualify me for this office saying They who saile the Sea report the perils of it so that in my judgement there may be a convenient safety in this course when it is steered by sincere humility for truely humility is like the Marriners needle but a little motion yet requisite for the use of all the Sailes of moral vertues in the course of a Christian and I have set as good markes as I can upon those bankes and sands of flattery and adulation which lye covered over with the shallownes of civility and complement upon which if our affections do stick they will batter and by degrees open our hearts and so cast them away quickly upon all vanities and presumptions and indeed these sands are more dangerous then apparent and emergent rockes
many that we may easily proportion a correspondence between our affections to sensible and spirituall objects setting them in the due subordination of the sence to the understanding and when this order is settled in our minds we are perswaded there may be allowed this intelligence which passeth often between the greatest distances of degrees that what appertaines properly to the dignity of spiritualities may be borrowed sometimes innocently and applyed to adorne and grace the worth of materiall goods and after this manner I suppose we may accommodate these attributes of divine and heavenly and many other such jewels of the crown of God to illustrate the accomplishments of corporeall blessings In this method many Lovers seeme to thinke they may use Gods spirituall Altar as we do his material Altars in Churches from whence the ornaments are borrowed and transposed from one to another according to different solemnities for many use as familiarly all the proprietyes of divine love for the gracing of their passion as if God had lent them his attributes to set off the shrine of their affections which do usually stand dressed up with Sacred vessels with all the termes of veneration and adoring and thus doth our unfaithfull councellor perswade us in effect to set up altar against altar upon pretence of a faire correspondence between Grace and nature This is truly to be blinded by the God of this world as the Apostle saith to treat any such compartition of our heart between our faith and our fancy applying alternatively the same expressions of estimation to them both when we know all the appurtenances to Gods altar are so fastned to it by his own hand as the very borrowing of them for secular uses is sacriledge The same composition of oyntment which God did appropriate to the services of the Tabernacle was forbid to be imploy'd upon bodyes in the delicacies of the flesh under the same paine as sacriledge and that confection of perfumes which was peculiarly Gods odour was not to be compounded for any common application and when we poure out so familiarly Gods attributes upon our loves as an unction of suavity and delicacies upon flesh and blood and perfume our passions with the same composition of prayses and exaltations which are properly affected to divine uses we do certainly incur this kind of irreligious presumption and how familiar this loose effusion is of all the most Sacred termes upon this subject of our passion I need not argue but enter this ill custome as a high indignity to God though it passe commonly for no more then a light intemperancy of the fancy which is little questioned truly it is most an end the foul ardor kindled in the heart that seeths this uncleane froth out of the mouth which staineth all the Moral virtues it toucheth for prophanenesse taints wit and civility and all other good qualities it runnes through and so though prophane love may sharpen the brain it alwayes sowreth the heart which is the vessell of devotion if there be then many hearts farre from God while they honour him with their lips we may safely conclude no heart can be neer to God while the lips are so farre from honouring him as leading out his propertyes Wherefore let no body presume that they may innocently convert a hymne into an Iopean that is to transferre the prerogative prayses of divinity to the flattery of his owne Diana In the religion of the heathen Romanes every one had their houshold gods that did not derogate from the honor of those they worshipped in the Temples each one was allowed his Genius each family their Penates for familiar gods at home which they observed loved more though they feared not so much as their state gods methinks they that would maintaine a consistancie betweene those two altars of humane passion and divine love take the priviledges of that religion allowing themselves their Genius or fancy for a domestick god which they affect more though they acknowledge not so much as their Church of God But the reason why the Gods of the heathens did admit this association was that they were not jealous Gods and cared as little for the singlenesse of the heart as they knew the secrets thereof whereas our God is just the contrary both a jealous and an Omniscient God and as all hearts are his not onely by creation but by purchase with no lesse a price then all his love so it cannot be expected he should receive hearts back againe with lesse then all their love §. III. The errours of prophane jealousie argued and a Pious jealousie propounded MEthinks passionate lovers who know nothing so well as the nature of jealousie which studyeth continually the anotamy of hearts and is so severe to the least defective part should not hope to passe any insincerity upon a jealous God if they did not study too much the quality of jealousie and too little the nature of God for if they attended that it would shew them God cannot be jealous according to the nature of man where jealousie implyes doubt and perplexity of inquiry for to God the secrets of hearts are manifest even while they are secrets to themselves he preconceiveth what all hearts shal ever freely conceive so God calleth himselfe a jealous God as knowing the nature of humane jealousie which is so sensible of the least substraction from what we affect to assure us by that title he can admit no participation in what he vouchsafes to love It is to inlighten man in the knowledge of his severity not to obscure the beliefe of his omniscience that he cals himselfe a jealous God which quality is as propitious in Gods love as it is malignant in mans for humane jealousie among all the falsities it suggests for our disquiet telleth us but one important truth and that we seem to believe little by the eagernes of our solicitations which is the infidelity and variablenesse of all humane loves that are so unfaithfull as our greatest passions are commonly unsecured by our tendernesse and caution of them and Gods jealousie assureth us of the immutability of his love which we can loose onely by our not being jealous of it for the more watches we set over it in our lips and the more guards in our hearts the more it is obliged by this circumspection nor must we think to keep it safe in our hearts while the doors of our lips stand open to all the passengers of a prophan and libertine tongue so that if we make a serious reflexion on it there is none of Gods attributes so sure a guide for our way to him as a jealous God Whereupon I may well ask the Synagogue of Libertines this puestion of Saint James Do you thinke that the Scripture saith in vain The Spirit that dwelleth in you covets you even to emulation and Saint Paul explicates this when to indeare his zeale to soules he calls it the emulation of God and we know God is
delight the owners of it shewing what a reall blessing beauty hath by being made by God one of the best opticke glasses for the helpe of mans spirituall eye by report from his corporeall in the speculation of divinity for by this inference of the Wise-man he may argue If we are delighted with these materiall beauties we may judge how much more beautifull and lovely is the Lord and Creator of them adding that by the greatnesse of the beauty of the creatures the heathens were inexcusable that they did not find the truth of one Creator We may remarke a speciall providence of God in the order of nature providing against the pervertiblenesse of this great blessing of beauty for the most vehement cupidity of our nature ariseth not before the use of reason the abuse of beauty and the use of reason are both of an age whereby we have a defence coupled with the time of temptation and our reason when it is seriously consulted for our safety hath the voyce of the holy cryer in the desart and directeth us to a stronger then her selfe which was before her though it appeared after her this is Grace which we may call in to our succour in all the violencies of our nature so as with these pre-cautions I propose beauty to be truly honoured in that highest degree of nobility which God hath been pleased to rank it among his materiall creatures preserving religiously the Prerogative Rights of the Soveraign of our hearts who demandeth not the putting out of the right eye as the Ammonites did for a mark of slavery but proposed it onely as a medicine in case of scandall when the liberty of the whole body is indangered by it whereby we see devotion doth not infringe any of the rights of humanity in the valuation of materiall blessings for in not admitting vain passion it doth rather defend then diminish the liberties of humane nature which are truly inslaved by the tyrannies of passion Now in answer to that question concerning friendship with women I professe to intend so little the discrediting of reall friendship with them as I approve it for an excellent preservative against the contagiousnesse of passion for as passion hath been well said to be friendship runne mad so friendship may be properly styled sober passion since it hath all the spirit and cordiality of the wine of love without the offensive fumes and vapors of it and so doth the office of exhilarating the heart without intoxicating the braine Insomuch as we finde that our friendship with the proprietor of what we are tempted to covet doth often even by the single virtue of morality suppresse those unruly appetites Therefore when the power of Christianity is joyned to re-inforce it we may expect it should much the easilier correct frailty of nature It hath been well said of friendship that it is the soule of humane society and if our friendship hold this Analogy with the soul to be equally intire in every part of the body it is very safe with women if the love be no more in the face then in the feet as long as it is like a soule thus spiritually distributed equally in the whole compound of body and mind it is not in danger of the partiality of passion which never maketh this equall communication of it selfe but lodgeth solely in the externall figure of the body and friendship thus regularly spirituall may find a sensible as well as a lawfull delight in the beauty and lovelynesse of the person for beauty hath somewhat that affecteth and taketh our nature which methinks is somewhat like to that we call the fire or the water in diamonds which are certain rayes of luster and brightnesse that seem the Spirit of the whole matter being equally issued from all parts of it and so there may be a kind of spirit and quicknesse of joy and delight that may shine upon us from the object of a beautifull person whom we may love so spiritually as to consider nothing in the person severed from the whole consistence and virtuous integrity of soul and body no more then we do the fire of a diamond apart from the whole substance Thus beauty may innocently raise the joy of friendship whiles sincere friendship doth suppresse the danger of beauty which is onely the kindling of passion wherefore if it be rightly examined passion which pretendeth to honour beauty more then friendship will be found but to vilifie and debase it for passion useth this diamond but as a flint to strike materiall sparkles of lust out of it whereas friendship lookes upon the fire of this diamond as delighted only with the luster of nature in the substance of it which reflects alwaies the splendor of the Creator unto a Pious ' and religious love But this high Spirituall point of friendship with women where we have no defence by consanguinity against the frailty of flesh and blood is not so accessable as we should presume easily to reach it many loves have stray'd that pretended to set out towards it therefore we cannot be too cautious in this promise to our selves of security in such difficulties for our spirit can make no such friendship with our flesh as to rely upon the fidelity thereof without his own continuall vigilancy wherefore S. Peters advise is very pertinent in these intelligences Converse in feare in this time of your sojourning for otherwise I may presage to you in the termes of the Prophet Evil shall come upon you and you shal not know from whence it riseth for friendship doth often when it is too much presumed upon rob upon the place it did first pretend to guard being easily tempted by the conveniency our senses finde in that trust And as those theeves are the hardliest discovered that can so handsomely change their apparencies upon the place as they need not flie upon it so friendship when it is debaushed into passion is very hardly detected For when it is questioned by Gods authorized examinants it resumeth the lookes and similitude of innocent friendship and so remaineth undiscovered not onely by the exterior inquest but very often it eludeth a slight interior search of our own conscience thereby proving the most dangerous theef in the familiarities with women For this reason I must charge this admission of friendship towards women with this clause of Saint Paul While you stand by saith presume not but feare for in this case we may warrantably invert the rule of Saint John and say that perfect love bringeth in feare wherefore I will conclude this case with Solomons sentence Blessed is the man who feareth alwayes he that hardneth his heart shall fall into mischiefe § VIII The Conclusion framed upon all the premised Discourse and our Love safely addressed NOw then upon these evidences we may fairely cast passion in this charge of Treason against the Soveraign of all our love and consequently all libertine discourse and familiarities with women
perverted to be reproached p. 40. s 2. Beauty abusing us with apparences as fishes are cousened in the water p. 173. s 2. Beauty how innocently it may be honored p. 175. s 2 3. C COnfort to humane frailties p. 10. sect 2 5. Contemplation honored for what reason p. 66. s 3. Courtiers common error in point of felicity p. 73. s 2. Courts considerable as figures of heaven p. 86. s 1. Courts of Heathen Princes not to be urged against the piety of Christian ones p. â—0 s 1 2. Courtiers of all ranks bound to proportionable exemplarity p. 92. s 1. Companions of Princes to b 〈…〉 fully chosen p. 94. s 2. Courtiers advantaged for humility by their vocation p. 102. s 2. p. 104. s 2. Civilities and complements how allowable in Courts p. 109. s 4. Contempt to enemies not allowed for our neglect of revenge p. 280. s 2. Charity to enemies what proportion it must hold with that of Christ p. 281. s 1 2. Counterfeit forgiveness of enemies censured p. 284. s 2. Charities prerogatives in a sincere love to enemies p. 285. s 1. Causes wrongfully judged by events p. 292. s 1 2. Constancy in our undertakings preferred before irresoluteness p. 294. s 2. Curiosity of the causes of advers events disswaded p. 298. s 3. Conformity of our Wills to Gods Order in all events determined in what degree it is required p. 299. s 2. Constancy enjoyned in good causes upon all events p. 310. s 1 2. Courts advantaged by examples of benefits procured to Christianity p. 115. s 2. 3. Contemplation a kinde of Heaven p. 321. s 2. Confort for Prisoners p. 362 s 3. Contemplation described p. 385. s 1. Contemplation defined out of St. Augustine p. 387. s 2. Conversation ought to be kept pure p. 130. s 3. Circumstances aggravating the faultiness of loose speech p. 146. s 1. D DEath readeth to man p. 7. sect 1. Dispair of cure is worse then our infirmity p. 14. s 2. Divinity discernable by grace p. 22. s 1 Devotion described p. 23. s 2. Devotion defined p. 28. s 2. Devotion is onely sincere when it is conformable to the order of Superiors p. 29. s 1. Devotion may be prejudiced by too much austerity p. 46. s 4. Devil disswadeth prayer p. 80. s 1. Dissimulation may be rendred vertuous in some case p. 96. s 2. Dissimulation in humility decryed p. 102. s 1. Duties precisely in all cases belonging to enemies p. 275 276. s 1 2. Death and the love of enemies have like aspects at the first sight p. 276. s 3. Dissimulation in point of love to enemies very absurd p. 278. s 2. Different deceits in humors towards judging of reasons of causes p. 312. s 2. Detraction or Medisance defined p. 126. Detraction commonly connived at p. 127. Delusions in Spiritual vocations p. 335. s 2. Detraction how handsomly disguised p. 129. s 3. Detraction imposed as it were by Princes acting in it oâ— encouraging it p. 134. Description of what 't is to be in love p. 150. s 2. E EXamples of mans frailty p. 9. sect 3. Example is meritorious in Devotion p. 29. s 2. Examples of Saints rejoycing rightly in temporal goods p. 69. s 2. Errors of those who wonder they are not happy p. 73. s 1. Errors of our judgement in discerning Truth illustrated by a Simile of Zeuxes the great Painter p. 76. s 1. Examples of Princes why more dangerous then others p. 92. s 1. Enemies a difficult object for love p. 265. s 1. Example of Christ requisite to enable us for the love of enemies p. 267. s 2 Enemies in some respect more useful then friends p. 269. s 2. Experience of suffering is the onely security of our capacity of discharging the duty of loving enemies p. 286. s 1. Examples of Gods unconceiveable Providence in the defeats of good Princes in good causes p. 307. s 4. p. 308. 1 2. Examples of eminent sanctity in Courtiers p. 115. s 1. Excuses of Courtiers for irreligious complaceneies refuted p. 124 s 1. Errors discovered in the election of solitary vocation p. 322. s 2. Errors of Philosophers in point of single reason being sufficient for consolation p. 343. s 2. F FAith rested on giveth an ease above Reason p. 23 s 2. Felicity determined to consist in a rejoycing in Truth p. 65. s 3. Fortunes falacies more discernable at Court p. 105. s 3. Flattery described and impeached of falshood p. 107. s 1 2. Flattery is the issue of pride p. 108. s 1 2 Forgiveness of enemies an excellent sacrifice p. 279. s 3. Friendship is allowed another kinde of love then that we owe enemies p. 283. s 1. Forgiveness of enemies doth not obstruct the course of Iustice p. 288. s 3. Faith follow de 〈…〉 tures as confidently as victories p. 312. s 2. Foulness of speech a greater crime then many imagine p. 14â— s 1 〈◊〉 Flatteries to women are upon the Devils Commission p. 161. s 2. Flattery raiseth self-love in women p. 162. s 2. Friendship with women how â—ar allowable p. 176. Filial love defined p. 187. Friendship sincere is a safegard against passion p. 177. s 1. Filial love urged upon us p. 193. Fraternal love a mark of our being in the way to filial love to God p. 196. s 3. G GRace was superadded to Reason in all the first perseverers in the belief of one God p. 23. sect 2. Greatness inclineth naturally to be flattered p. 112. s 3. Grace of Christ enabling us to love enemies and the gift greater then the exaction p. 267. God is single yet not solitary p. 317. s 3. Grace proportioned to several callings p. 121. s 3. God worketh upon different tempers by divers applications p. 330. s 2. Grace not single Reason fortifieth our minde in great distresses p. 341. s 2. Gods mercy is universal in commanding that all should despise this world p. 378. s 3. Great persons delighting in it promoteth Medisance with great self-guiltiness p. 132. s 3. H HOly Ghosts impression on our nature p. 18. s 3. Hypocrisie displaid p. 33. s 3. Honor goes under the title of Vertue p. 44. s 1. Humility doth not prohibite the pursuit of honor p. 45. s 4. Happiness temporal defined p. 51. s 1. Happiness wherein it is truly to be found p. 63. s 1. Honors temporal may excite us to the pursuit of eternal p. 89. s 1. Humility truly described p. 104. s 1. Humility a security against all temptations of Courts p. 101. s 2. p. 106. s 2 3. Hatred to enemies imitateth those we hate more then him we pretend to love p. 268. s 2 3. Hatred to one another from whence derived originally p. 270. s 2. Humility like the Marrineâ—s need p. 113. s 2. Hope often abused p. 159. s 1. I INfirmity of Man evidenced by Solomon p. 8. sect 3. p. 9. s 2. Incarnations mercy p. 12. s 2. Infirmities of man may be turned to the torture of the Devil p. 17.